HARDEN RISES TO THE OCCASION

Coming off a disappointing, turnover-plagued performance against Deerfield Beach, St. Thomas Aquinas running back Jeremiah Harden was forced to quickly pick himself up and find a way to help his team bounce back against one of its biggest district rivals, Hollywood Hills.

Saturday night at Lockhart Stadium, Harden answered that call, scoring twice to lead the Raiders to a dominant 27-0 win over the Spartans and helping St. Thomas take the top spot in the District 16-5A standings.

The win was St. Thomas 38th consecutive district victory.

Harden outrushed the entire Spartan offense, including Broward's leading running back, Chris Anderson, gaining 154 yards on 18 carries. The Raiders' defense, meanwhile, held Hollywood Hills to a total of just 54 rushing yards.

"I know I had a bad game last week and I had to prove a point," Harden said. "It's nothing personal against Hollywood Hills or Chris Anderson."

The Raiders (6-1, 3-0) had just a 7-0 lead at the start of the third quarter thanks to an early touchdown pass from Wesley Carroll to Kyle Tuthill, but Hollywood Hills muffed the opening kickoff of the second half and four plays later, Harden scored his first touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run that gave St. Thomas a two-touchdown lead after Wes Byrum's extra point.

On the Spartans' ensuing possession, the Raiders, playing without one of their leaders, linebacker Matt Shula, who suffered a season-ending back injury, forced another turnover and once again, the St. Thomas' offense capitalized when Byrum hit a 29-yard field goal that extended St. Thomas' lead to 17-0.

"It was a bad performance all around," said Spartans coach Al Lang. "We thought we had some things we could do, but we couldn't.

"I don't know the answer right now. I'll have to view the tape and take it from there."

As Harden kept powering the Raiders' offense, Hollywood Hills (5-2, 2-1) continued to try and put the ball in Anderson's hands, but every time he was swarmed by the Raiders. Anderson, a pre-season Super 11 pick, was held to just 54 yards on 21 carries, and his longest play was a 7-yard run.

"Obviously, Chris Anderson is one of the better, if not best, running backs in the county, and I thought we did well at the line to contain him," said Raiders coach George Smith. "This was very important after the way we played last week.

"We came out and played real hard and had a lot of guys that stepped up and did a good job."